Run Like Hell
by walkerstalker1969
Summary: Audrey is stuck with the Dixon brothers, just trying to survive. Is this world a new start for her?
1. Chapter One - Doomsday Is Here

The night was going slower than usual, probably because the club was practically empty. In the past hour she had seen one customer. There had been all of these weird stories on the news about some disease that resurrected the dead, she hadn't paid much attention to it. It seemed like nothing but a hoax to her, but everyone else was freaked out to the point where most wouldn't leave their homes. At least it meant she didn't have to do any lap dances tonight.

"Sean, I'm going home. It's too slow tonight." The bouncer nodded in agreement with her. Audrey made her way through the dark hallway that led to the cigarette stained dressing room. She searched for the cubby labeled 'Roxy', her stage name. She removed her painfully high heels and threw them in her cubby. Then, she pulled on a pair of grey sweatpants and a black Lynyrd Skynyrd t-shirt over her skimpy, two piece outfit. It was rare for anyone to be able to leave early, even in this small town, but the CDC somehow managed to scare the fearless trailer park hicks of Georgia. She tied her long, brown hair up in a messy bun and pushed open the back exit door, dragging her duffle bag behind her. She always walked home from work even though it was usually around 3 in the morning when she left. She only lived about two miles away on Cook's Rd, in the rotting trailer she shared with her failure of a mother.

Her mom was rarely ever home, she was typically at some party doing drugs with her friends and Audrey just assumed that's where she was tonight since the trailer was dark, but as she reached the front steps she could hear groans coming from inside. "Fucking slut," Audrey growled and kicked the door open. She expected to see her mom sucking the dick of yet another filthy redneck, but when she flicked the lights on she saw her mom hunched over the torn apart body of one of her neighbors, Bob, and she was eating him, literally. Her mouth immediately dropped open when she saw the entrails dangling from her mother's yellow teeth. "Mom!" She cried, "Stop! What are you doing?" Her mother didn't answer, but simply lunged at her, trying to bite at any exposed flesh. Audrey kicked her mother into the stained, green couch and ran for the little kitchenette, arming herself with a steak knife. "Mom, stop." Ignoring her daughter's warning, she lunged again and without a second thought, Audrey plunged the knife into her mother's skull. Her lifeless body fell to the ground and Audrey's face turned a ghostly white color. She dropped to her knees and cradled her mother's head in her lap. Tears began to stream down her pale face and her body was shaking uncontrollably. Her mother had been a junkie and she never truly understood what it meant to be a parent, but Audrey had loved her none the less. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

The news reporters hadn't been lying, this disease was real and she knew she needed to get out of here.

* * *

Audrey had fallen asleep in her bedroom with the door locked and a steak knife on the nightstand. She had packed her duffel bag the night before with two sets of clothes, extra underwear and some supplies including food and medication. There was no way she could stay here after last night. She stood up from the bed and pulled on a pair of jeans and an old Pink Floyd t-shirt. She let her hair fall down over her shoulders, but she kept a hair tie on her wrist. Pulling on her black Timberland boots, she headed out the door, bag in hand. Before she could bring herself to leave the trailer she turned to the dusty bookshelf and grabbed her dad's old hunting knife. It had a wooden handle and a three-inch blade. It was the only thing of her father's that her mom kept after he died. She had wanted it since she was little, but her mother had refused to part with it. She held back tears that were threatening to come pouring out and she pushed open the door of her trailer, saying a silent goodbye to her home.

She walked down her steps cautiously, knife raised, and ready to defend herself with, but thankfully there weren't any corpses near the house. She took a deep breath and continued down the street slowly. When she saw the infamous Dixon brothers packing their shit up into their blue and grey Ford pick-up truck she decided to see what plan the two biggest survivalists had in mind. Merle spotted her and his signature shit eating grin appeared on his face.

"Well look who it is, Ms. Roxy herself."

"Hi Merle." She said rolling her eyes. She had grown up hearing about them all over town. People always had something bad to say about the Dixons, but Audrey never paid much attention to the town gossip. Most people didn't like their father so they automatically didn't like his sons, but even after he died, people continued to talk shit about the Dixon boys. She didn't know Daryl at all really, she'd seen him around town a few times, but that was it. Merle on the other hand came into the club quite often and harassed the girls. Audrey was always the one to handle him and stop him from causing a scene. She didn't like having to kick people out, it made the club look bad which pissed off the manager and caused him to take a higher percentage from work their nightly tips for at least a week.

"Where are you off too?" Merle asked.

"I don't know really," a thought crossed her mind and she smiled motioning to the truck, "got any room in your shitty Ford there?" It was obvious that the Dixon brothers knew what they were doing and Audrey knew that it was unlikely she'd be able to survive on her own.

"Yeah," Merle grinned, "but what are you willing to do to earn a spot in this shitty Ford?"

Her smile faded and she rolled her eyes, "Are you gonna let me come or not?"

"Maybe, if I can get a little action," Merle winked.

"Screw you Dixon," Audrey began walking away, she wasn't going to do that pig any favors even if it meant she was going to have to find a way to survive on her own. She spent enough time with him at the club. He had always asked her for a lap dance, just to piss her off because he knew she couldn't refuse a customer.

"You can come," the voice caught her off guard. She'd never heard Daryl speak before, his voice had a gravelly tone, but it was softer than his brother's. She smiled at him and nodded a thank you before throwing her bag in the bed of the truck and climbing in the cab.

"Don't slow us down." Merle grunted, obviously displeased with Daryl's agreement to take her with them. She was thankful they were letting her tag along, despite her tough girl act, she didn't have the slightest clue on how to survive alone. Her father had taken her hunting a few times, but that was years ago when she was a little girl, she was twenty-four now and hunting wasn't something she had ever really gotten the hang of. She knew Merle was going to be taking his bike so that meant she'd be riding with Daryl, hopefully it would give her and chance to get to know the mysterious younger Dixon.

* * *

They had already been on the road for a minimum of forty-five minutes and they had sat in silence the entire time, Audrey was sorely disappointed. Daryl was much quieter than his brother which probably explained why she'd never met him. Merle was an obnoxious alcoholic and a drug addict, but Daryl seemed to stay under the radar as much as possible. They were like polar opposites.

With the only sound being the light hum of the truck's engine and the roar of Merle's motorcycle behind them, she decided to try starting a conversation. "So," she began, "Where are we going?"

"Atlanta, they got some sorta military base set up there."

"Aren't you worried?"

"About what?"

"Well, there's a lot of people in one place. Diseases spread fast in close quarters."

"You ain't gonna die unless you get bit."

"Bit?" She should have paid more attention to the news report.

"Yeah, by one of the dead ones."

"Well," she said, "in that case, I sure as hell would not want to be in a city full of people."

"Look," he stopped, he couldn't figure out what point he was going to make. She was making him rethink going into the city. Finally he spat out an angry response, "There's nowhere else to go." Frustration began building up inside of him, if the city wasn't safe, where could they go? He didn't just have Merle with him, now he had to worry about protecting this girl, at least Merle could fend for himself. Why had he let her come along in the first place? Atlanta was at least six hours away and he knew he had to get her there in one, living piece.

She had noticed his frustration building and she let out a sigh. Talking was never her strong suit and although she wanted to talk to Daryl and get to know him, she knew it would be a good idea to leave him alone, at least for now.

She shifted in her seat uncomfortably, accidentally kicking the door, and causing a black case to fall onto the floor. "Shit," she mumbled. She never knew how she could be such a graceful dancer, but a complete klutz on a daily basis. She picked up the case and dusted it off. It was a CD case, one of the ones that had pages like a photo album with slots for all of the disks. Without asking, she unzipped the case to reveal CDs ranging from the Beatles, to Pink Floyd, to Lynyrd Skynyrd and so on. A well of excitement boiled within her, she loved music, and classic rock just so happened to be her favorite genre of all time. She flipped through the pages looking at every album available, but when she saw Tea for the Tillerman by Cat Stevens she stopped flipping and pulled it out of its slot. "Can I?" She asked motioning to the stereo in the truck.

"Sure," Daryl chuckled a little when she asked to play music after invading his CD case. She was unusual, but in a good way.

She stuck the disk into the stereo and skipped to song number three, Wild World.

"Now that I've lost everything to you

You say you wanna start something new

And it's breakin' my heart you're leavin'

Baby, I'm grievin'

But if you wanna leave, take good care

I hope you have a lot of nice things to wear

But then a lot of nice things turn bad out there."

She sang along, not missing a single word. Hearing the calming sound of music brought a smile to her face and she almost forgot that it was the end of the world.

"Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world

It's hard to get by just upon a smile

Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world

I'll always remember you like a child, girl."

Daryl watched as she sang, she was having fun, moving side to side along with the beat as if she didn't have a single care in the world. She had the type of personality that made you want to dance along with her, although he'd never do that.

"You know," she said, turning the music down, "maybe this doomsday shit isn't all that bad." Daryl looked at her with confusion sprawled out across his face. "I'm serious, no one ever gets out of that town, but we did."

"Yeah, what's your point?"

"We didn't get stuck like old man Bill, we are fucking free." She may be running away from the roaming dead people, but she wasn't tied down to that shitty little town anymore. She didn't have anything to worry about except survival and for once in her life she felt like she had some sort of future, even with the world having ended.

"You're fucking weird." They both burst out into laughter, her little speech did sound stupid as hell, but it was true, they were finally free.

Merle honked his horn as they neared a small, white house with a fenced in backyard and a huge Maple tree covering the front lawn. They pulled into the driveway and Daryl got out to talk to his brother, who apparently wanted to take a break even though they had only been driving for a little over an hour. Audrey grumbled at Merle's short attention span. He was the one slowing them down, not her. She actually wanted to get to the city to see if there was any chance of a real safe haven, no matter how much she doubted it.

Audrey climbed out of the truck wearing a look of frustration. She refused to make eye contact with Merle as she grabbed her bag out of the back of the truck.

"Get that pout off your face girl." Merle chuckled, Audrey flipped him off as she made her way to the front door of the house. He had ruined her good mood and her patience for him was growing thinner by the second.

The outside of the house was covered in dirt and the lawn was filled with weeds and over grown grass. It was obvious this place had been neglected long before the end of the world. As she pushed open the door, she wasn't surprised to find that the inside looked just as bad as the outside, it was obvious that no one had lived there for at least a year. Feeling confident in the fact that the house was abandoned and most likely empty, she took a few steps inside to look around, but when a hand from behind grabbed ahold of her shoulder she regretted not having her knife out. She spun around quickly trying to get away from the tight grip of whatever was holding onto her only to find Daryl standing there, glaring at her angrily.

"What the hell are you doing?" He grumbled, pulling her back outside. "We have to check the house first. Can't just be walking into places without knowing what's in there."

"Calm down," she pushed his hand off of her shoulder, "I'm fine."

"Cause I pulled your ass outta there before you got yourself eaten."

"Shut up," she spat. She didn't like it when people treated her as if she was helpless. Maybe she wasn't too good with a weapon, but she sure as hell could defend herself. She stood by the truck and waited as Daryl checked the entire house. He didn't take long and as he walked back outside, with an even more agitated look on his face, she knew he hadn't found any walking corpses. She smiled making a tally of her small victory in her mind. Audrey, one, Daryl, zero.

"Get comfy," Merle's voice pulled her out of her own thoughts, "we ain't leavin' til tomorrow mornin'."

She sighed and then headed into the house to find a place to set up for the night. He was right, she might as well get comfortable, at this pace, they'd never make it to Atlanta.


	2. Chapter Two - The New Group

Audrey hadn't slept a bit all night. She hated to admit it, even to herself, but she was scared. If her theory of too many people in one place had been right and Atlanta wasn't safe, where the hell could they go? What was the use of having freedom if you couldn't even live long enough to experience it?

The morning light was already beginning to peer in the window of the living room. She picked nervously at the peeling paint on the window sill, she wanted to get up, but she didn't want to wake up the boys who were sleeping mere inches from her. Merle was snoring loudly, but Daryl was completely silent. She turned her head so that she could see him, his features were relaxed and she watched the gentle rise and fall of his chest. How could he be so calm when she hadn't been able to close her eyes for any other reason than to blink.

"What are you doin' up?" Daryl's whispering voice startled her, causing her to hit her elbow off the wall, loudly. Merle stirred in his sleep, so much for not waking them up. Audrey grumbled and pushed herself out of her sleeping bag which lay on the floor in the far corner of the living room.

"I couldn't sleep," she mumbled, "it's too damn hot in here." She wasn't completely lying. The Georgia heat had been almost unbearable.

"Shit," Daryl grumbled, opening his eyes and sitting up. He sighed and then turned his attention to a half-awake Merle and ignoring Audrey's response, "You were supposed to keep watch Merle."

"She just said she was up all night. Get your panties out of a twist baby brother." Merle spoke in a groggy voice, it was obvious he'd been asleep for awhile. He began to slowly pull himself off of the ground, groaning in discomfort. A sleeping bag was no where near enough padding for a wooden floor.

Audrey shook her head at the disheveled man who was now on his hands and knees trying push himself up off of the floor. She couldn't help but laugh at the scene before she headed towards the bathroom. The toilet was hooked up to a well on the property so it still worked, but before she could get through the door Merle ran up behind her and pushed her out of the way so that he could use the toilet first. He slammed the door in her face and locked it. "Merle!" Audrey started banging wildly on the door, she felt as if her bladder might explode. She heard him laughing on the other side and she began hitting the door harder. "You bastard!" Unable to wait for him to finish, Audrey burst out the front door and made her way around the side of the house so she could relieve herself. Merle was such a child, but she couldn't deny that it was still slightly funny.

Once finished, she started pulling her pants up, but her frustration made the task impossibly difficult. Cursing Merle's immaturity under her breath, she fiddled with the button on her pants. With her head down and her attention on the tricky little button, she heard a deep throaty groan a few feet away. Assuming it was just Merle being a pig, she ignored the sound of approaching footsteps. He could be so obnoxious sometimes. She tried to ignore the grunts being emitted from his mouth, but when she saw the feet on the ground in front of her she realized it wasn't one of the boys. She was positive they'd never be caught wearing blue converse sneakers.

Her head shot up and she was staring eye to eye with a walker that was only about two feet away from her and it had a disgusting snarl on its face. "Fuck!" She screamed and tried pushing the corpse away, but it discarded her efforts and lunged forward, pushing her to the ground. "Shit!" She screamed even louder this time, kicking at its face and panicking as it clawed at her legs. She could see the hunger in its eyes. This thing wasn't thinking about anything other than food, whoever it used to be was gone. She scolded herself for not having her knife with her, once again.

The corpse got ahold of her ankle and dragged her towards its salivating mouth. She was sure she was going to die and she let out one final scream filled with frustration. The end of the world had just begun and she was already dying. She closed her eyes and prepared herself for the excruciating pain, but all she felt was the thump of its forehead against her leg. Slowly, she willed herself to open her eyes and look down at the dead creature with an arrow sticking straight through the side of its head. She let out a sigh of relief.

"Gotta be more careful." Audrey looked up to see Daryl standing by the corner of the house, crossbow in hand. She let out a nervous chuckle and pulled herself to her feet. Her button was still undone so she casually began to fiddle with the circular piece of metal once again until it was finally hooked through her jeans.

"I need new fucking pants," she mumbled, embarrassed by her lack of attention to the dangerous world around them.

"Jesus Roxy, you ain't supposed to feed the animals." Merle chuckled at his own, shitty joke and Audrey swore under her breath before pushing past the two men to get back inside where she found the sleeping bags and supplies already packed up and set by the door. She gathered as much as she could in her arms and tossed it into the back of the truck.

"Let me help," Daryl said, stopping her before she had the chance to grab the rest of the supplies on the floor. He picked up the two heaviest backpacks and left the remaining sleeping bag for her.

"My baby brother is being a gentleman," Merle scoffed and forced a laugh, "how sweet." Audrey rolled her eyes and shot her middle finger up at him as she made her way to the passenger side door of the truck. "When and where, Roxy?" He laughed again.

She turned back to Merle before opening the door, shooting him a devilish grin, "In your dreams, grandpa."

Merle narrowed his eyes and smirked, "Watch it, you ain't no high class hussy, you're just as low down as me sweetcheeks."

She shrugged, "Maybe, but at least you had to pay to see me, that's pretty high class for us don't you think?"

Merle shook his head with a smile and headed off towards his bike. She knew how to stand her ground which was one reason Merle had always gone to see her at the club. He loved to test her boundaries and keep her resilient attitude going strong. She was like a little sister to him in many ways and he almost felt proud knowing that her tough personality was a part of his doing.

* * *

The drive had been fairly uneventful for the past two hours, Audrey had finally gotten some sleep which allowed her to regain much of her strength. They had just pulled over so that they all could 'empty the bucket' as Merle said. He had honked the horn excessively, signaling Daryl to stop. Although their plan had been to just pull over due to the fact that they could easily see one another and attract less attention, Merle had to be obnoxious and do the exact opposite of what Daryl had said.

"Come on," Audrey growled as they waited for Merle. She had an uneasy feeling and she wanted to get back on the road immediately. Merle had snuck behind the gas station, probably to get a hit of whatever drugs he had on him, but he was taking far too long and Audrey was growing extremely impatient. "I'm going to go get that bastard," she grumbled, but Daryl grabbed her arm before she could take a step. "What?" She hissed.

Daryl brought his finger to his lips, he was listening for something. Audrey strained her ears to search for the sound that Daryl heard and when she finally noticed the slight rumble of a motor in the distance she shot Daryl a look of concern. If there were others headed their way, it could be good or bad. The people could be survivors just trying to reach Atlanta, or they could be survivors with a more sinister mindset and Audrey wasn't sure she wanted to find out.

Daryl pushed her towards the truck and handed her the keys. She tried to grab ahold of Daryl and force him to stay with her, but he was already running towards the gas station in search of Merle. She made her way towards the pickup, but when she saw the RV appear a mere forty feet away from her, she knew she didn't have any time to run. She ran for the truck and ripped open the door so that she could reach the pistol hidden under Daryl's seat. She prepared herself as the RV slowed to a stop in front of her. She didn't know where the boys were, but she didn't have time to worry about that. She focused her attention on the homely old man with a hawaiian shirt and a bucket hat sitting in the driver's seat. He looked harmless and she began to lower her gun when she saw yet another face appear behind the driver. It was an asian boy around the age of nineteen or twenty she guessed. She dropped her weapon to her side as the two passengers made their way out of the RV and onto the road in front of her. Their attention was fixated on the short girl, covered in tattoos, holding a Smith & Wesson awkwardly in her hand.

"I, uh," the boy's voice was shaky, and his eyes remained glued to gun, "I'm Glenn and this is Dale." Audrey went to introduce herself, but before she could, the brothers were behind her, their weapons aimed at the two men next to the RV.

Daryl pulled her back away from them roughly and he held her protectively at his side with his arm around her waist, making her feel oddly uncomfortable. Dale spoke up, his voice filled with concern and fear, "We have nothing to hide." His words seemed forced, as if he had to choke them out of his own throat and when the RV shook gently behind the men and the brother's reacted in unison, pointing their weapons towards the open door, the old man's eyes became wide and anxious.

"Nothing to hide my ass," Merle stepped forward, towards the old man, "Who the fuck is in there?" he hissed. Dale lowered his head and tapped three times on the side of the RV. Merle looked at his brother with frustration in his eyes and Audrey's body became rigid, she was uncomfortable and scared. She tried to imagine who these men could be harboring, but Daryl's arm wrapped around her waist was making it difficult to think at all. When two young, blonde women appeared from inside she felt Daryl's arm relax around her and she took the opportunity to step away. Why was he being so protective? She pushed the thought aside and focused on the women that Merle was now ushering out of the RV so that he could get inside and ensure it was finally clear.

One woman, who looked much younger than the other stood behind the older blonde. They looked as if they could be sisters, despite the age difference. "That's Andrea," Dale motioned to the older woman, "and her sister Amy behind her." The women stepped towards Dale slowly, taking in the appearances of the three new people standing before them. Audrey tried to remain relaxed in order to seem approachable, but Merle and Daryl took away from the calm vibes she was trying to send towards the cautious women.

She took a deep breath as Merle exited the camper and nodded to Daryl to let him know it was clear. "I'm Audrey," she began introducing the shabby trio she was apart of and when she turned to Daryl and Merle she couldn't help but chuckle, "and these are my friends. Daryl and Merle."

The new group relaxed and greeted the boys with genuine smiles. "We are headed to Atlanta," Dale said to Audrey, "I'm assuming you guys are too." She nodded and the old man seemed to find relief in the fact that they weren't alone, even if the trio looked something like a redneck biker gang. "Mind if we tag along?" His voice was hopeful and she could tell these people had to be struggling alone.

"Of course not. There's safety in numbers," she smiled, knowing her father would have scolded her for saying such a thing. He had always believed people were unreliable, which was true, but in this case it was nice to know that they weren't alone. Dale offered a quiet thank you before returning to the RV with his group, leaving her to the truck with the boys.

"So," Merle said raising an eyebrow, "since when are we friends?"

"Since those people trust me more than the two terrifying hicks." Audrey laughed and managed to catch a small smile on Daryl's scruffy face.

"Hey," Merle pushed her arm roughly, "you're just as terrifying as us, looking like a biker midget and all. Besides, why do they gotta like us? We don't need to be dragging their sorry asses along with yours." She shook her head smiled at the ground. She pushed him back with a laugh before climbing into the truck.

"Let's go boys." She slammed the truck door and slouched into her seat. She couldn't help but enjoy their company. Her mind returned to the way Daryl had held her and a flood of mixed emotions rushed through her body. She wasn't sure how she felt about it, but she had liked the feeling of his strong arms around her. Stop, she scolded herself, I can't be thinking about these things, not with our lives at risk every second of the day. Daryl climbed in the cab and she turned to face out the window, she decided all she needed was some more rest and then everything would be back to normal.


End file.
